On Politics: The Biggest Stories of the Week

From steps forward in the Trump hush-money investigation to tensions at the White House and on Capitol Hill, it’s been a busy week in politics. Here are some of the biggest stories you might have missed (and some links if you’d like to read further).

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The hush-money investigation advances

On Wednesday, in a major step in the investigation of hush-money payments made to two women who said that they had affairs with President Trump, the parent company of The National Enquirer admitted to paying off a Playboy model to protect Mr. Trump’s campaign. The tabloid played a crucial role in keeping the women silent ahead of the 2016 election.

The revelations came on the same day that Michael D. Cohen, a former lawyer for Mr. Trump who directly implicated the president in the hush-money scandal during his sentencing, received three years in prison.

In a change of course, Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote on a substantial criminal justice bill before the end of the year, putting Mr. Trump on the cusp of claiming one of the first truly bipartisan legislative achievements of his presidency. The president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was the administration’s driving force behind the bill.

Mr. Trump directed federal agencies on Wednesday to steer spending toward certain distressed communities across the country — part of his administration’s push to turn a tax break included in last year’s $1.5 trillion tax package into a broader effort to combat poverty and geographic inequality.